I had a morning walking tour, History and Legends of Ghent, scheduled my first day in Ghent so took an early train from Bruges then went directly to Cours Saint George to drop off my backpack. The reception didn’t look great but the room was fine. Very large and comfortable. Our tour guide was informative and friendly. We started at St. Michael’s Bridge and walked along the Leie canal and the Korenlei neighborhood. We heard about the old tax house,…
I had a direct flight from Lagos to Brussels then took the train from the airport to Bruges the first night. I recommend the SNCB app for purchasing tickets; it was very easy. I wasn’t quite sure for the first train about buying online since I thought tickets were for a specific time. I wasn’t sure how long it would take from my gate to the train station so bought this first ticket using the machines, once I arrived at…
I went to New Orleans a few years ago specifically to visit the National WWII Museum and I planned my trip to Normandy to visit the D-Day beaches. I could have wandered on my own but wanted a guide, both for more information and to visit additional WWII sites beyond the beaches. I found this site for a private tour: D-Day Tours of Normandy. I booked the 3-day US based tour. I highly recommend this company; it’s run by Malcolm…
I went to Normandy to visit the D-Day beaches but there is so much more to see here. I wish I had booked additional time to see more of the small towns like Saint-Lô or driven up to Cherbourg and the Cotentin peninsula. I stayed in Bayeux, at a lovely but overpriced hotel. Bayeux Bayeux Tapestry Museum The tapestry is over 900 years old, is 70 meters long and 50 centimeters wide. It depicts the Norman conquest of England in…
I’ve been wanting to visit Malta for years. There is so much amazing history here, in the Crossroads of the Mediterranean. Early settlements date back to 5900 BCE. I looked at just visiting Valletta, but wanted to see more of both islands so found a package, a guided small group tour “Malta and Gozo Discovery”, via Explore. We spent five nights on Malta in Sliema, but didn’t have a lot of free time in Valletta and there was more I…
Kelly and I planned a Türkiye trip online. We tried Trip.me, which we had used to plan our Myanmar and Morocco trips in 2017. They are now called TravelLocal. They have many different itineraries to Turkey. We found this one, 10-day Turkey Tour; we customized it adding a few sites we wanted to see. However, we had also found One Nation and another travel site as we were exchanging emails with TravelLocal. Their itinerary was $1000 more than a similar…
After leaving Aveiro, I stopped at Nazaré on the way to Sintra. I had checked one website and supposedly there were “giant waves” forecast. I got there though and the waves were just average (about 30 feet). Talking to another person while walking down to the fort, they told me about the site, Surfline, that they use and said was always accurate. I did get to see inside the small Chapel of the Miracle, or Ermida da Memória da Nazaré,…
I visited Porto last November and it became one of my favorite places in Portugal. Now I have another favorite, Aveiro! I stayed at the great Triade Apartments. I had a studio apartment, kitchen, it was a great location and there is parking on the square. There is a small grocery store around the corner so I picked up some items for breakfast. I arrived too early to check in; I left my car, and went out exploring. I headed…
Another place in my “1000 Places to See Before You Die”, I decided to spend a night and day in the Bussaco Forest or, in Portuguese, Buçaco Forest. History The Carmelite monastery, the Convento de Santa Cruz do Buçaco, was built in 1628 in the protected Mata Nacional do Buçaco. A wall was built by the monks to protect and conserve the forest. It is about 5 kilometers in circumference. Originally there were just two doors, the Coimbra and Sula;…
Estremoz I wanted to go back to Estremoz. I had been here about a year ago, visiting Evora and Estremoz. But it rained most of the two days I was there and I wanted to see more of the town. So I started my second long Portugal road trip here. I stayed in the great Pousada Castelo Estremoz or Pousada da Rainha Santa Isabel, again. Because of the weather last year, I missed the beautiful patio and courtyard of the…